Process of forming compounds of iron and carbohydrates.



H. L. MARSH. PROCESS OF FORMING COMPOUNDS OF IRON AND CARBOHYDRATES.

APPLICATION FILED D3026, I914.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

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HOWARD L. MARSH, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS FORMING COMPOUNDS OF IRON AND CARBOHYDRATES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent ed Feb. as, rare.

Substitute for application Serial No. 865,687, filed October 8, 1914. This application filed December 26,

1914. Serial No, 879,013.

T all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, HOWARD L. MARSH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of Forming Compounds of Iron and Carbohydrates, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyin drawings, which form a part of this speci cation.

Several difi'erent compounds of iron and carbo-hydrates have been prepared, perhaps the most useful of which is ferric saccharate or saccharated ferric oxid. This compound, in particular, because of its solubility and the fact that is contains iron without having a ferruginous taste, has been of considerable commercial importance in Europe as a means of introducing soluble iron into foods, drugs and beverages. However, the method of preparing these substances is long, tedious and troublesome and the products secured are never in a high state of purity.

In the practice ceeded, in a comparatively of my process I have sucexpeditious and mexpensive manner,

in so treating a solution of refined saccharose as to introduce thereinto the desired proportion of iron, the resultant product having precisely the qualities, as an ingredient of medicinal and other beverages, which are characteristic of a solution of ferric saccharate as produced by known methods and which I believe to be chemically identical therewith.

The essential feature of the process consists in passing an electric current of appropriate strength and intensity through an electrolyte of a solution of a refined carbohydrate, employing as the electrodes, or as one of them, particularly the anode, a metal which it is desired to enter into combination with the electrolyte. It is preferred touse a diaphragm of some porous material to separate the anode and cathode compartments, as this gives the most satisfactory results, but success may be attained in most cases without its use.

The drawing is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a cellin which my process may be carried out.

The strength andintensity of the current depends upon several factors, 6., the strength and nature of the electrolyte, its temperature, the size vand chemical nature of the electrodes and their distance from each other, and the rate at which the reaction-is desired to take place. It will therefore be understood that the factors essential to the successful carrying out of the process cannot be definitely delimited, but the following is an example of one way in which the process may be carried out in the manufacture of a substance 'havin all the essential qualities of a solution 0 ferric saccharate .and which I believe to be chemically identical therewith.

A glass cell (112.5 cm. deep, 9 cm. long and 6 cm. wide was divided into two compartments b and .c bymeans of an unglazed porcelain diaphragm (1 0.50m. thick and securely cemented to the side walls ofthe cell with plaster of Paris. The electrodes 6 and f were of common sheet iron 4.5 by 11 cm. in size, and were spaced apart a distance of 5.5 cm. 180 cc. of a saturated solution of saccharose, free from iron, was introduced into each compartment. A direct-current of 0.02 ampere with a pressure of l05'volts was established for 22 hours. At the end of this time the liquid of the anode compartment had become a greenish color. After it had been removed and allowed to stand for a few hours, the solution changedto a yellowish red color, indicating oxidation of the iron. It was found upon analysis to contain 0.035 per cent. iron. The liquid of the oathode compartment remained colorless and was found to contain a minute trace of iron. By varying the conditions of the process the final product may be made to contain more or less iron as is desired. Thus, another example of the way in which the process may be carried out in the manufacture of'the same compound is as follows: 100 cc. of a saturated solution of'saccharose was introduced into a glass cell of the same depth as the one hereinbefore described but havin a length of 6 cm. and awidth of 1.7 cm. ITO

diaphragm was used. The electrodes were of the same size as those hereinbefore described but were separated from each other by a spaceof 1.5 cm. The full direct current from a 110 volt circuit was passed through the solution for twenty hours. The final product of the electrolysis was found upon analysis to contain 0.32 per cent. of iron. The explanation of the reaction appears to be that hydrogen is evolved at the cathode, and that as no gas is given off at the anode, the metal of the anode itself consequently ionizes and passes into solution. The iron saccharose compound made by this method is sweet, devoid of a ferruginous taste, and does not precipitate by diluting with water or by boiling. I have found the process applicable to the production of mmpounds of iron with other than saccharose. Another advantage of my process is that many carbo-hydrates the approximate percentage of iron desired to be included in the saccharose solution may be determined in advance by varying the factors hereinbefore mentioned and it is thus unnecessary, as in other processes where an excess of iron is introduced, to add sugar to the compound to form a satisfactory product.

While the compounds produced by my process are rarely, if ever, adapted for direct consumption, and are available, nearly or quite exclusively, as a means of introducing iron into drugs, foods, and beverages such asbeer, my invention is not limited to the employment of the process as a step in the manufacture of any particular class or classes of substances intended for direct consumption, but is for the process of manufacturing the compounds named irrespective of the substances with which they are ultimately intended to be incorporated.

I am aware that it has been 'proposed to treat sugar juices, for the purpose of removing therefrom the acids, oxids and albuminous matter that are contained in the crude product, by using them as an electrolyte in cells in which diaphragms of vulcanized fiber or other porous material are applied directly to the electrodes. But my invention does not contemplate the removal of impurities from the unrefined juices, nor the treatment of such-juices; my invention contemplating the introduction of iron into juices from which such impurities have been so far removed in the refining process as to produce a substantially refined product. Nor would my process be operative on a practical basis, if it were attempted to practice it in cells of the character specified, my invention necessitating either dispensing with a diaphragm or arranging the diaphragm so that a substantial body of the electrolyte intervenes between the same and the electrodes. I am also aware that a substance dissolved in water becomes conductive only when it dissociates and that it has been authoritatively stated that sugar does not dissociate and therefore it would seem that a pure solution ofsugar is necessarily non-conductive and that my process is therefore theoretically unworkable. Superficial experiment would seem to confirm this opinion inasmuch as with electricity of ordinary voltage or even very high voltage, no appreciable current passes through the electrolyte for some period after the beginning of the process; the said current becoming established to an extent that can be measured only after the lapse of some period of time. In my own practice of my process, I have employed a saturated solution of Kahlbaums ure saccharose crystals, which are of a high state of purity, and the quantity of iron found present in the solution was far in excess of any amount that might be accounted for b the corrosion of the iron anode due to the minute percentage of impurities that may have been conceivably present in the solution. It would therefore seem that, since pure water is a non-conductor, the sugar must have been the agent which permitted passage of the current and it therefore, must have dissociated.

While I believe my theory of the operation of my process is correct and that I do in fact. obtain a solution of the known chemical compound ferric saccharate, the object of my process is not primarily nor essentially to dissociate sugar or produce ferric saccharate but to introduce iron into refined saccharose so as to produce a commercial product which, when mixed with food, medicines, beer, etc. produces a product which is indistinguishable in its practical qualities from food, medicines, beer, etc., into which ferric saccharate, produced by other known processes, has been introduced.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of introducing a metallic ingredient into a carbohydrate which comprises passing an electric current through an electrolyte of a solution of a refined carbohydrate and through electrodes the anode of which is a metal to be combined with the carbohydrate.

2. The process of introducing iron into electrically communicating node and cathode compartments containing the carbohereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, on I In testimony of which invention, I have hydrate in a refined state and between electhis 16th day of December, 1914;.

trodes of which the anode is of a metal to HOWARD L: MARSH.

be combined with the carbohydrates and which are spaced a substantial distance from the boundary between the two compa Inents.

Uemiea of thie patent may be obtained for five c Witnesses: rt- M. M. HAMILTON,

ents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentt,

Waehtmm'ton, n. W 

